Ken Borland

Loose forward Arno Botha is excited about the chance to earn his Springbok place back, but the 28-year-old knows that the only way that is going to happen is through performing exceptionally well for the Bulls, starting with Saturday’s SuperHero SuperFan match against the Sharks at Loftus Versfeld.

Botha played his two Tests for South Africa back in 2013 and much water has passed under the bridge since then, including Jacques Nienaber becoming the fourth Springbok coach in that time, three knee surgeries and a move to Europe in 2018 which saw him play for London Irish and, with great success, for Munster. But now he is back with a Bulls side that he represented brilliantly for 82 games in all competitions between 2011 and 2017.

“It’s awesome to be back, the Bulls have always been a part of my life. The best thing is the system Jake White has going now, the way we are training, I’m really enjoying it. It’s always been my dream to play for South Africa again and there’s no better chance of doing that than this one. If I can show why Jake has backed me, which is an honour for me, then I give myself a chance.

“I’m here to play for the Springboks, that’s something I’m working towards and it would be the cherry on the cake, the ultimate, that’s my dream. What makes it even more exciting is that there are probably 20 loosies who all want to play for South Africa, and that gives me energy. But my focus is on now and what’s the plan tomorrow for me to get better, to get fitter and stronger,” Botha said in a virtual media interview on Monday.

It may be SuperHero SuperFan day on Saturday, but Botha says one should not expect him to figuratively don a cape and tear the Sharks to shreds singlehandedly; neither should one expect anything startlingly new from the Bulls, even though White’s appointment as director of rugby has brought so many changes in personnel.

“Rugby stays the same, the tackles and carries stay the same, you might just do a bit more of one or the other depending on what position you’re playing. It looks like I’ll be playing number seven, with Duane Vermeulen at eight, but I’ve even had a run at number four lock. It’s not going to feel any different to when I played my last match for Munster in March.

“Nothing changes about Bulls rugby, it will all be exactly the same,” Botha said with a hint of sarcasm probably aimed at their perennial critics in the Cape. “But Jake has brought a very good mentality. I haven’t played at Loftus for a while, so it’s a new start anyway for me and we just want to play good rugby. We have trained enough to say we’re ready and another week or two of contact won’t make a difference. Jake has handled things well and we have the perfect plan.”

Ken Payet’s face creased into a frown as the tournament director of the Nedbank Golf Challenge and Sun City’s Operations Manager for Sport and Recreation considered the impact cancelling this year’s event would have on the local community around the resort.

The 2020 Nedbank Golf Challenge, which was meant to be the 40^th anniversary of the event that began life as the Million Dollar, was cancelled at the end of last month due to all the uncertainty over the Covid-19 pandemic, and while Payet said the decision was made in time to avoid any serious financial losses for the tournament, his heart went out to the local economy which relies on one of the most lucrative events in world golf for much-needed income.

“Action was taken in time because deadlines were set for certain decisions to be made and only small costs were incurred, but really next to no money was lost. But if we had given the green light then and started with the infrastructure build for the event, millions of rand would have been wasted if the tournament did not then go ahead. The ability to travel was unknown and we still don’t know for sure about quarantine times both here and in Dubai where the Race to Dubai World Tour Championship Final is played the following week.

“But the impact will really be felt by the local community and you’ve got to feel for them because the tournament employs about 5000 people. So in future the Nedbank Golf Challenge will be looking to contribute to them through charities that raise funds, like Golf for Good on the European Tour. We will see what we can do to give back to them, make a difference in people’s lives, and we are already in talks about that,” Payet said at Sun City at the weekend.

While the uncertainty over travel restrictions – international travel will only resume on October 1 – obviously played a big role in the decision to cancel the event this year, it also just made business sense because crowds would not have been allowed to attend.

“Playing behind closed doors was not really an option because this is the biggest social event and is all about networking. For the sponsors to get a return on their investment, they want to entertain existing clients and network with possible clients. For them it’s not just about branding and our sponsors are an integral part of the Sun City family.

“Our sponsors have also had a lot of retrenchments, so spending a whole lot of money sponsoring a golf tournament would not have sent a good message. There’s such uncertainty, even now we could still go back to Lockdown Level III and there is still a reluctance to travel. The infection rate just has to rise and all that money spent is thrown down the drain. We just would not have been able to put on the event we know and love,” Payet said.

Proteas coach Mark Boucher says the team has found a new vision and identity for themselves and also a new way of playing that will hopefully bring greater success as a rebuilding side looks to regain their glory days.

The South African cricket team’s Culture Camp at Skukuza last month not only dealt with wrongs of the past, especially those that involved racial discrimination, but also plotted a way ahead for the future. #ProteaFire, the mantra of the team that went to number one in all three formats with Boucher as a player, has now officially been extinguished, replaced by three watchwords: Belonging; Empathy; Respect.

“One of the biggest changes came in terms of #ProteaFire, which gave us direction and the values to become the number one side, especially when under pressure. But none of those guys are playing anymore and we have outgrown that, it’s an outdated identity. Maybe it became too commercialised, it ended up just being on paper and the guys no longer live it.

“There are more cultures in the team now and it was time those came through. It’s important for a new team to create a new identity and that’s exactly what we got – a new set of values. It will start with how we play and the players chose the same route that myself and Enoch Nkwe [assistant coach] wanted, everything aligned without us really trying. It’s also about how new guys coming into the team must feel and management did not choose the vision, the players did,” Boucher said in an audio interview released by Cricket South Africa on Monday.

Boucher said the Culture Camp also gave the larger group of players from which the Proteas will draw the opportunity to talk about their pet peeves and he found the revelations to be eye-opening.

“We all come from different backgrounds and have been brought up in different ways, and we must understand our shortfalls in the past. We can’t turn a blind eye, we must acknowledge them, that’s empathy, which is a big word for us. We need to use our four or five different cultures to our advantage and I came out of the camp with a completely different understanding.

“I educated myself, I found it quite fascinating, things I have never thought about before. The camp opened my eyes in a massive way and I would encourage people to get out there and try and understand the feelings of different races. Now the best thing for the game would be for our biggest assets – the players – to be able to take over the headlines for good things, let the game do the talking rather than the other things that have been hogging the headlines,” Boucher said.

A South African may not have won a Major title since Ernie Els triumphed at the Open in 2012, but any suggestion our golf is going to the dogs has been refuted by the superb displays of our golfers around the world over the weekend.

Between them, South Africa’s four top performing golfers over the weekend – Louis Oosthuizen, Garrick Higgo, Ashleigh Buhai and Els himself – took home nearly R23 million in prizemoney. And that excludes the cash raked in by the top-five finishes of both George Coetzee and Retief Goosen.

The Major event of the weekend was the U.S. Open at Winged Foot Golf Club outside New York and the powerful Bryson de Chambeau unleashed his dogs of war in the final round, in which he was the only golfer to shoot under-par, to win by a massive six strokes.

Oosthuizen, who was four off the pace at the start of the round, was soon out of real contention for the title as De Chambeau began dismembering the course on his way to a 67, and his challenge ran out of steam with a three-over 73 on the final day. Nevertheless it was good enough for the 2010 Open champion to finish alone in third, two behind second-placed Matthew Wolff.

Oosthuizen took home more than R14.2 million for his efforts and he now has six top-three finishes in the Majors, including being runner-up at least once in all of them.

The PGA Tour Champions is a lucrative way for professional golfers who have turned 50 and qualified for the seniors tour to bulk up their medical aid and Els took home more than R2.6 million at the weekend when he finished third in the Pure Insurance Championship at Pebble Beach.

Unfortunately Els, who was the leader going into the final round, suffered another of his putting breakdowns as he missed a two-foot putt for par on the last that would have secured him a place in the playoff with eventual winner Jim Furyk and Jerry Kelly.

Goosen finished in fourth place, two shots adrift of Els.

Buhai (nee’ Simon) did get into a playoff in her event on the LPGA Tour, shooting a brilliant seven-under-par 65 in the final round to join Major winner Georgia Hall in the showdown for the Cambria Portland Classic title at Columbia Edgewater.

Unfortunately, Buhai’s putter, which had come to her aid numerous times earlier in the day, let her down on the second extra hole as she missed a par putt to deny her her maiden LPGA title.

The good news though for the three-time SA Open winner is that she has earned herself a place in the U.S. Open in December and she won nearly R2.7 million.

There was at least one South African winner at the weekend though and that was young rising star Garrick Higgo, who claimed his maiden European Tour title by winning the Portugal Open at Royal Obidos. In just his seventh start on the tour, a marvellous seven-under-par 65 drove the 21-year-old left-hander to the victory, Higgo beating Spaniard Pep Angles by one stroke.

Higgo was superb with the Driver all weekend, and he did not make a bogey in his last 26 holes, dropping just three shots all tournament.

While Higgo took home a little more than R3 million for his life-changing win, Coetzee continued to capitalise on his fine form by finishing in a tie for third, four shots back.